1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration absorber, and more particularly to a self-centering damper to provide a damping effect to the structure and to be returned to an original position automatically.
2. Description of Related Art
To strengthen the beams and pillars of the main components of a large structure for withstanding vibration energy, the applicant had previously proposed a vibration absorption device for a structure such as the Taiwan Patent Number 1283722. The vibration absorption device has an elongated damper with an I-shaped cross-section. The elongated damper has two narrow sides and a wide middle between the narrow sides to enable the elongated damper to change the moment of inertia distribution of curvature along its section into a uniform distribution of the elongated damper. When the elongated damper is achieved the yield by the force of the earthquake, the overall of the elongated damper is able to reach the yield point and provides an excellent absorption effect of the vibration energy. When the elongated damper is exposed to the force of an earthquake, the overall mass of the elongated damper is able to reach the yield point and provide an excellent absorption effect of the vibration energy.
Although the vibration absorption device for a structure that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,283,722 can improve the vibration absorber damping performance by the width change of the side plates of the I-shaped elongated damper, it still absorbs the vibration energy by the I-shaped elongated damper and cannot reach the optimizing technical effect. To uphold the creative spirit of perseverance and research trials, the applicant found that if an auxiliary returning structure is assembled into the I-shaped elongated damper, it will further elevate the vibration absorber damping performance of the elongated damper of structure.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide a self-centering damper to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.